


mother mercy

by canadianshipper



Category: Grey's Anatomy
Genre: Fluff, Kisses, Levi has anxiety, M/M, Meeting Levi's mother, Schmico, talk about sex
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-19
Updated: 2018-11-19
Packaged: 2019-08-25 21:14:02
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 2,576
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16668400
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/canadianshipper/pseuds/canadianshipper
Summary: Levi sees a familiar face in the hospital, and dreads telling Nico about it.





	mother mercy

**Author's Note:**

> a/n - I’ve wanted to write a fic regarding these two, and I keep starting them, but never finishing, and then the fic wouldn’t be relevant anymore, I guess. SO now that we’re on break with greys, I thought this would be the perfect time to post some fics. Here’s my first one. (also for these fics, don’t expect genius medical jargon because trust me, I have no idea what I’m talking about.. I’m an Arts student, not a medical student. The only medical term I know that I didn’t learn from greys is “Subdural Hematoma” and that is just from a play I did)  
> Also keep in mind that I haven't written a fic in a long time, so I'm a bit rusty.

Levi walked down the hallway with a clipboard in his hands and a smile on his face. It had been a couple of weeks since the Seattle windstorm, where things got.. Interesting, to say the least. Cece, one of Schmitt’s favorite patients, had made it through her surgery. Unfortunately, not without complications due to the power loss. (Something that Schmitt and Nico didn’t have to deal with, being in the ambulance and all). Cece’s blood pressure dropped and she nearly died on the operating table, but they managed to save her just in time. 

Taryn wouldn’t shut up about it.

However, Levi never told Taryn, or any of the other interns, about what happened in that ambulance. He’d told them he got trapped with Nico Kim (who, according to Helm, was a “good looking ass hat”). The interns still weren’t sure about Dr. Kim, due to what happened in that elevator weeks ago. Levi had run to them right after it happened, and immediately Qadri made the executive decision that nobody liked Dr Kim anymore. 

Yeah. 

That worked. 

Parker basically ignored the situation, still wrapped up in some apparent drama between Pierce, Altman, Hunt and Shepard. Levi didn’t want to know. (But if Parker were to divulge the information, Levi wouldn’t be opposed to hearing it). Helm offered to switch onto ortho for Schmitt, but seeing as she was on general with Grey, it was obvious she really didn’t want to switch. And besides, Levi didn’t want to take the easy way out. He wanted to prove to himself that he was professional. He didn’t want to let his hurt feelings get in the way of his work (even though Nico was being an ass, something Levi called him out for during the storm).

Right, the storm.

They didn’t sleep together. Not yet. They had gotten really close to it though, stripped down to almost nothing, but eventually agreed that Levi’s first time with a man shouldn’t be in an ambulance during a windstorm, when Nico may very well have a concussion. So, they waited. But they talked.. They talked a lot. What else could they do aside from kissing and talking? They were stuck in that ambulance for hours, waiting for the storm to calm. They eventually got out, thanks to Ben Warren. Apparently Qadri started panicking when she hadn’t heard from Levi, and Warren was right there when it was happening. He’d gone out, expecting only to find one doctor, but found two. 

When they found their way inside, Nico immediately went and got himself checked out (just to rule out a concussion or subdural hematoma). Luckily, he only had a small bruise, and wasn’t in any serious medical peril. Levi thanked God that night. He knew that it was Nico’s fault he’d gotten hurt, but Levi couldn’t help feel a little bit guilty. 

Nico helped relieve some of that guilt that night. (Nothing too sexual, just some casual making out and maybe a caress of the inner thigh or two). Levi had spent a couple of nights over at Nico’s apartment, but eventually had to go back to his mother's house when he’d run out of clean clothes (and borrowed clothes from Nico). 

Levi snapped out of his thoughts when he nearly ran into Dr. Lincoln, who was rushing over to an empty hospital bed. “Oh for Pete’s sake, Schmitt. Coulda mowed me right down.” Lincoln huffed. He didn’t usually act that way, something must’ve gone wrong in his latest procedure. Nico was in that surgery too, Levi could ask him later.

“Oh, s-sorry!” Levi stuttered out. He looked down at the chart and didn’t say anything else as he walked past.

“Hey, before you leave.. Dr Kim has a patient in the other room, he could probably use some help.” Lincoln said and then proceeded to walk away. 

Levi could see Nico in the other room, talking to somebody in the bed that he couldn’t quite see. He walked to the attendings room and noticed that the patient Nico had was laying on her stomach, asleep. Nico was putting a needle in her back. She had shards of glass up and down her spine and couldn’t lay on her back, or else the shards would dig deeper and could hurt her even more. 

“Dr. Kim.” Levi said, alerting him of his presence.

Nico didn’t have to look up to notice who it was, he smiled anyways. “Grab some gloves and a tweezer. We’re diggin’ for gold today.” Nico looked up and winked. 

“What happened?” Levi washed his hands under the small tap, put some gloves on, and took a pair of tweezers from the tray. 

“She fell over, into a glass table or something.. Clearly drugged up or drunk, the results haven’t come back in yet.” Nico picked a large piece of glass that was near the small of her back and dropped it in a metal bowl on the tray. “Be careful taking some glass out. We don’t know how big these pieces are, and want to be in complete control, and prepared to stop a bleed.” 

God, he was hot when he talked medical. 

“Does she have a name?” Levi asked. “Well.. O-of course she has one but, uh.. Do you know her name?” 

Nico shook his head. “She was so far gone when we got her, she wasn’t able to form any coherent words.” He picked up various small pieces of glass, and showed Levi one piece that he could take out himself. 

“Is this really an ortho job?” 

“Not really, no. But if she has any shot nerves in her legs because of the glass, ortho can take over.” He pulled out the last large piece. “Alright, we can flip her over now. We’ll get her upstairs to look into her more, but I think we’ve got all we can get.” Nico put his tools down, as did Levi, and grabbed her arm. “Alright, just help me steady her.” 

Levi helped grab her body and they rolled the unconscious woman over. That’s when Levi saw her face, and he nearly fainted right then and there. His face felt cold and his breaths grew shallow. “I.. Uh..”

“Dude, are you okay? You look like you’ve just seen a ghost.” Nico asked, concerned.

“I’m.. I have to go.” Levi booked it out of the room and kept running until he reached the closest bathroom. He pushed himself into a stall and knelt down in front of a toilet, ready to throw up. He shoved his face into the toilet and dry heaved, but nothing actually came up. 

“Dr. Schmitt?” A familiar voice said. Webber. “Dr Schmitt, I saw you run in here. Are you okay?” 

Levi stood up, shakily, and opened the stall door to a concerned Richard Webber. “I, uh, yeah. I’m okay, Dr. Webber. Thanks.” He smiled faintly and took a deep breath. 

“You look sick. Are you sure you’re okay to be here today?” Webber walked up to him. “Schmitt you look like a damn stick. Go home.” 

“No, no. I’m okay, I saw someone I knew. That’s all.” Levi walked over to the sink and turned the tap on. He removed his glasses, cupped his hands under the faucet and let water fill up. He splashed some in his face and immediately started feeling better.

Webber furrowed his brows and sighed. “What’s going on, Schmitt? That’s not optional. What is it?” 

That’s all it took for Schmitt to burst out into tears. He didn’t expect for this to happen today, he really didn’t. He never plans on crying to his superior in the mens bathroom. It’s just not something you can really prepare for. “Dr Kim had a patient..” He started, breathing heavily. “It was a woman.. All hopped up on drugs, and she had glass all over her back…”

“Okay, and you knew her?” 

Schmitt nodded. “She was my mother.” 

\--

Nico kept paging Schmitt for the rest of the day, worried that he’d thrown up so much he’d passed out or something. He dropped the patient off with Parker and Pierce, and went on his way to look for Schmitt. He looked in multiple on call rooms, bathrooms, lounges.. But he couldn’t find him anywhere. That is until he bumped into Webber on his search.

“Dr. Kim, in a rush?” Webber asked, smirking.

“Looking for my intern. Schmitt. Seen him?” 

Webber nodded. “Sent him home. He was pretty sick.” 

“Ah, man. Alright, thank you, Sir.” Nico said, going on his way. He walked down the hallway, passing Chief Karev on his way. He quickly explained that he needed the rest of the day off, and luckily, Karev accepted it and let him go. Nico left the hospital, making his way to his car out back, and drove to Levi’s home.

Nico knew that he’s caused Levi some sort of confusion in the past couple of weeks, what with him kissing him and then rejecting him in the span of two minutes. He’d felt bad about it, of course he did, it was a dick move. He needed to be careful, though. His history with dating men and coming out was very harsh and he didn’t want to live it all over again through Levi.. But it was different. It wasn’t like the last relationship he’d been in. Of course they hadn’t confirmed anything by calling each other boyfriends, but it was pretty clear they weren’t seeing anybody else. 

With Levi it was fun, and cute, all while being passionate and hot as all hell. They’d spent night after night kissing and softly grinding with each other, but nothing with any sort of completion involved. And he was okay with that, he was the one who actually suggested they wait to have sex until they were officially committed to each other. He didn’t want to hurt Levi as much as he didn’t want to hurt himself. 

Nico deserved a medal. Not because waiting is some sort of chivalrous thing to do, but with the way Levi would act when they were alone, it was difficult to say no. And sometimes, he almost didn’t, but he didn’t want Levi to panic. Levi was pretty prone to panicking when things got to hectic, which wasn’t due to his lack of experience or anything, but due to just Levi’s level of anxiety toward anything he’d come across. 

Eventually, Nico made it to Levi’s house, and parked in the small driveway. No other cars were parked there. His mother must’ve been out somewhere. Nico opened the car door and made his way up the front steps and knocked on the door. A moment or two later, the door opened, and Levi was standing on the other side. He wore a blue housecoat with only his boxers underneath, and slippers on his feet. His glasses were off and his hair was ruffled. His cheeks were bright red. 

“Nico, hey. W-What are you doing here?” 

“Webber said you left sick. I wanted to check on you.” Nico leaned forward and pressed a gentle kiss to Levi’s cheek. “How ya feeling?” 

Levi let Nico inside and shrugged his shoulders. “Like someone punched me in the stomach and threw me into a volcano while I’m covered in snow. I’m cold and then hot, and then cold.. Right now I’m both.” He closed the door behind Nico and guided him to the stairs to go to his room. “Want to hang out downstairs?”

“I want..” Nico leaned closer and put his hand on Levi’s hip. He put his lips close to Levi’s ear and whispered softly. “To make you soup.” 

Levi chuckled and sighed. “Alright, alright. To the kitchen.”

They walked to the kitchen but before they reached it, Nico took Levi’s hand and spun him around, planting a firm kiss on Levi’s lips. “How contagious are you?” He asked, softly. 

Levi went pale again. Now or never. 

“I uh.. I need to talk to you about something, actually, and it’s about why I got sick today. Let's go sit.” Levi held Nico’s hand even tighter and guided him to the living room, where cardboard had been laid down on the ground. “Careful where you step.” 

They sat on the couch and Nico started to feel worried. This was it. Levi stopped feeling attraction towards Nico and was finally admitting it to himself and Nico. It was happening all over again, and Nico wasn’t ready for it. “If you’re about to end things-”

“No! No, I’m not, I promise.” He cupped Nico’s face and softly kissed him. “It’s about today..”

“Yeah?” Nico said, prompting Levi to continue.

Levi took a deep breath and could already feel himself welling up. “Have you ever wondered why I haven’t introduced you to my mother?” He lowered his face, nothing wanting to even look at Nico.

“Sometimes, but we’ve only been seeing each other for a couple of weeks. I understand why I haven’t met her yet.” Nico said, calmly. God, he always knew what to say. 

“Well.. it turns out, you met her today.” Levi looked up and saw the confusion spreading on Nico’s face. “The patient you had today. That woman..” His eyes filled with tears and he sniffled. “That was my mom.. And uh.. She was high. She wasn’t drunk, she doesn’t drink but she.. She’s been addicted to drugs for a while now.. Since my dad left, that’s all she does.” He rubbed at his eyes and took another deep breath. He tried to continue, but couldn’t find his voice. 

Nico reached over and took his hand. “It’s okay.” He reassured Levi. 

“I can afford a one bedroom apartment, with the money I’m making.. I can do that. But I don’t. My mom isn’t okay on her own, that’s why I live with her. She doesn't take care of me, I take care of her. And when I saw her sleeping in that room today, I freaked out. She never goes to the hospital. When she gets bad, I know how to take care of her. When she gets really bad, I do what I can but.. But it’s never gotten to this point. When I got home, the table was smashed, and her..” Levi started to cry. “Her blood.. I’m sorry.” 

“Don’t be.” Nico stroked his thumb across the back of Levi’s hand. “Has she tried rehab?” 

Levi shook his head. “She refuses to go. I’ve tried getting here there, but it doesn’t work.. My sister, Cassidy, moved out when she was eighteen. She doesn’t talk to mom anymore.. And I get why, I do, but.. It’s my mom. I can’t just.. Leave her. And you know why, you saw her today. I was gone for a week, and that happened. I get it that this is alot to unload on you all at once but..”

“I’m happy you told me.” Nico brought Levi close to him and held his small body. As Levi cried, they just laid there, holding each other. Levi buried his face into Nico’s chest and cried for a couple of minutes. He hadn’t been that open with anyone in a long time, but with Nico, it seemed easier. Like in the ambulance. He gets worked up but then as soon as he needs to say something, it just pours out. It’s easy. 

Being with Nico was easy. 

“I really like you.” Levi whispered. 

Nico kissed his forehead. “Thank God.”

**Author's Note:**

> follow my tumblr? I talk quite a lot about Schmico on there. the-mostfabulous-damnthing. let me know if you like this oneshot.


End file.
